Let Me Rephrase That

Your Daily Dose of Sunshine - Today’s Inspiration:

• Ne'er-do-wells and Naysayers

• Shenanigans and Skedaddle

• Turn thou hitherward and do battle with me

Ne’er-do-wells and Naysayers

Of course I want a Library Ladder in my house! What lover of books wouldn’t? Because I love to read, and I’ve read to the boys all their lives, we all love a well turned phrase, something that captures the imagination.

Nothing quite does this like the words Ne'er-do-well and Naysayer. We light up if they come up in an old story - like a Mark Twain book or a more modern piece that plays with these old words.

The boys will use these words to describe people with a twinkle in their eye because they know I love them.

Shenanigans and Skedaddle

Because weird words are favored around my house, I love it when my kids come up with phrases of their own and use them for everyday occasions. Yesterday, Bean’s cat was being a pest and on the verge of knocking things off a sideboard, so he was ushered outside to play in the yard and burn off some of his feistiness. As the kitty left the house, Bean uttered this doozy with a little side-eye and a grin.

Turn thou hitherward and do battle with me

There was a period of time when we tried to homeschool. It was much harder than I ever imagined. But one of my artist son’s was so unhappy in school, his teacher actually suggested it. I didn’t enjoy being the one he was upset at during math study. It was better for me to be the one he came home to and complained to about how hard things were - than for me to be the one he was frustrated with.

One of the best parts of our trial and error was the English Language portion - of course - because we love words and books. I read The Knights of the Round Table out loud to him while he built castles out of cardboard at our kitchen table, or created armor or weaponry, again from cardboard. He would even get into painting illuminated letters for a page of text as I read. It was art to keep his mind and hands occupied and he could concentrate on the story and quote long passages back to me in Old English.

The phrase he will still quote to me after all these years - now that he’s graduated from high school - is “Turn thou hitherward and do battle with me.”

It’s Saturday, and I’m just playing with words in the early morning. I hope you have a grand and glorious day. Thanks for being a part of my world!